This Monday and Wednesday, August 8 and 10, a tree- and brush-removal project for Los Padres National Forest will be up for discussion in two virtual meetings. The work would remove trees and brush overcrowded from a century of fire suppression. It's also intended to protect the “wildland-urban interface,” or WUI, as Los Padres borders thousands of homes across Carpinteria, Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Goleta. However, another school of thought argues the money would be better spent on measures such as fire-resistant roofs and closing up vents — methods known as home-hardening — to directly protect residences and buildings in the WUI.
The project encompasses 235,495 acres north to Monterey County. Los Padres as a whole is 2 million acres, stretching 200 miles from Los Angeles to Monterey counties. Four of its five ranger districts are part of this project: Monterey, Santa Lucia, Santa Barbara, and Mt. Pinos.
The project has two parts: one for forest health and one for fuels reduction, summarized in a 17-page "Purpose & Need and Proposed Action" report with maps. Among other techniques, the Forest Service states it plans to use controlled burns to “restore fire-adapted ecosystems,” particularly in chaparral zones that include plants that need fire to seed and sprout. Cutting by hand or machines, chipping, masticating, and grazing are other removal methods.